Sweet Potatoes

WayneB · Jun 3, 2009

last year I went to the local Agway and picked up a few sweet potato plants, about 25 and they already had roots and I just planted them. Seemed to work okay, but the cost of the plants was really up there.

So this year I ordered them on line and first of the week they came in, just slips! Not sure if I did the right thing, but I hilled rows up about 40 feet long, 2 feet wide and about 12-14 inches high.

Stuck the slips directly into the ground about 4 inches deep.

Question is! Did I do it right or will they all die on me? I am sure the southern guys will have some advice and maybe I should of asked before planting!

Bottom line is I have way too much free time in the spring and pay for it during the summer when the weeds are trying to take over!

Ford850 · Jun 3, 2009

I save a couple dozen of the small sweet potatoes from the fall harvest, and store them in a dark warm place over the winter. In April I plant the best looking ones in 8" pots with sand and peat (4 - 6 per pot). I plant them half in the soil, half out. Put them in a sunny window and keep them moist. They will grow several shoots each, and those can be pulled off and planted into small pots to root which will give you plants like you bought previous years. This is how I do it, with about 30 3" pots. They are ready to go when the temperature is warm and are fully rooted in the pots so they take right off. If you planted the shoots directly into the garden, they would be fine too I think. But they might need have their tops exposed to light.
My family loves baked sweet potatoes, and we are still eating some left from last year.

greenmule · Jun 3, 2009

We always plant slips,if you plan on planting much,plants are just to expensive.

But they are hard to keep alive the first few weeks,they need to have alot of water,you plant them in wet soil,and you don't let the roots dry out,gotta keep them watered unless it rains good.Now once they get roots good,they will stand drought.

I plant them close together cause many always die,maybe 7-8 inches apart,in a small hill,planted I think 125 plants,mostly red but some white[or I mean my wife and little girl did!].

We always have plenty to last us all winter,think we still have some,they keep good in a cooler dark place,better than potatoes keep.

farm stores/feed stores sell them slips around here about mid may,hint of frost they are dead.

Chuck52 · Jun 3, 2009

I found slips at Walmart last year....good price of course.

Chuck

jinman · Jun 3, 2009

We used to use a broomstick end to punch a hole in the hill and plant slips. I hated sweet potatoes as a kid, but I like them now. They really aren't my favorite, but I like them baked or candied with marshmallows. A couple of years ago I tried to grow my own from two store-bought potatoes. They grew some beautiful slips and I had beautiful plants. Unfortunately, I had very few tubers form. I may grow them again, but it will be from bought slips rather than my own. I was crushed when I dug under those beautiful vines to find a meager amount of potatoes. However, on the bright side, the potatoes I got were delicious.

WayneB · Jun 4, 2009

Ford850: Thank you for the reply, I grew them last year from rooted plants and we had some to eat, but way to expensive. Major problem here is the growing season is short. If things work out this year I will try to save some and start them in the greenhouse.

greenmule: Glad to see you start them from slips! I will water them daily for the next couple of weeks and see what happens. If they all die I am not really out that much! LOL We can get them at the local farm store, but they get an arm and leg for them.

Chuck52: Walmart, never thought of looking there. I actually got these off from Ebay and the person sent way more slips than I paid for, so if they hang in there and grow I will certainly be ahead.

jinman: Well, if I do okay this year I will try the broom trick next year. All of the family like sweet potatoes sliced and then baked like french fries. Myself I will stick with Yukon golds or Norland red potatoes!

Thanks to all of you for responding.

Chuck52 · Jun 4, 2009

New Hampshire is pretty far north for sweet potatoes, so I doubt your local Wally World will carry them. I guess what I got there was "plants" since they were in a multi-pack thing. There's only one garden center type place I know of in my area that carries the slips, and they grow their own. I've had mixed luck with them myself, but I think it's been mainly my fault for not keeping the weeds down before the vines get going good. My dirt is kinda heavy, too, and I only got a good crop when I made a nice soft mound for them one year. A buddy of mine gets good crops every year in his raised beds, which he heavily modified with compost. If you do plant them a good trick is to put down newspaper all around the plants and hold it down with grass clippings or straw or whatever you have handy. Sweet potatoes don't seem to compete well with weeds, and the paper plus mulch also keeps the soil moisture in.

Chuck

jinman · Jun 4, 2009

WayneB said:
jinman: Well, if I do okay this year I will try the broom trick next year. All of the family like sweet potatoes sliced and then baked like french fries. Myself I will stick with Yukon golds or Norland red potatoes!

Wayne, after poking a nice clean hole with a section of broom handle, we dropped in the slip and then poured water into the hole and squeezed the soil lightly around the plant. That and watering using a bucket and coffee can until they were established is about all we did. What would the world be without broomsticks and coffee cans?

JohnDeere4300 · Jun 4, 2009

The way that we started our sweet-potatoes was to take several potatoes and put them in water that only covered half of it....Then when the sprouts started coming on them we cut that off and put them in water.....and the roots started growing.

We started ours in the house in February and had them in a window....By May when we planted them, they had roots on them 10-inch's long....They are growing great & this is the first year that we have tried this.

phyxer · Jun 4, 2009

A bundle of 25 slips cost me $5.25 out the door. Cover the roots entirely and plant them 12 to 18 inches apart and water the heck out of them for a couple of weeks and then water them along with the rest of the garden. I didn't care for sweet potatoes as a kid or young adult but I just can't get enough of them baked now. I always order a baked sweet potatoe with my meal if the restaurant has them which most do down here

Troy